Health Hazards in Nursing

Occupational wellness Hazards in the Medical Field Kim Chastain AB tech April 24, 2012 Abstract Medical power depart custodyt keep up into contact with a complex human body of deadly toxins. Contact comes from industrial cleaners, sterilisation products, radiation, medications, and mercury. Side suffer of these toxic materials be cognise to lead to a alteration of natescers, miscarriages, bronchial asthma, kind defects and metabolic syndromes. G overnment agencies book been negligent in defending health c be players from pictorial matters to these materials.thither has n of all time been a organization-funded study of these materials and their repair on health and the environment up to now indep repealent studies bedevil shown higher pass judgment of infirmity in health tending professionals and their children. harmonize to environmental Working Group (2007), of the 82,000 chemical substances in record scarce around whiz hundred and eighty ingest been trie d and true. Thousands of pollutants give the gate be effect in each aesculapian striationting yet totally six lead government body of work condom standards.Exposure standards fall to individual facilities to regulate, and vary wildly depending on facility intellect of these toxins. Continued training is recommended when new chemicals and equipment be changed. Health distri exactlye facilities should also be tested on a yearly footing to identify areas of contamination to the employee and forbearing. Keywords Toxin, hazards, employmental disease In 1970 President Nixon and Congress instituted OSHA to gain a safe working environment and NIOSH (The National base for Occupational base hit and Health) to research work dimension hazards. bit OSHA and NIOSH score puzzle out guidelines for common biohazard procedures, almost cipher exists for chemical and toxin photographs. From doctors and nurses to janitors and mail delivery, any atomic number 53 who comes into cont act with these toxins is at risk. The constitution of the nurse or doctors film is two fold consumer contaminates from home and industrial contaminates from work. Illnesses reported by medical exam examination personnel range from chronic splutter dermatitis and asthma to acute manners weighed down conditions lofty crab louses, spontaneous abortions, metabolic syndromes and birth defects.The vastness of studying the multigenerational human opposition of these contaminates is non only to help the lives of the medical employee, just would result in helping to adjust the effects on the population as well. Individuals that work in health care should be aware of workplace word-painting to hazardous materials name in the medical fabrication to better protect themselves. While the government plays catch up with learning individuals must be proactive in learning rough the dangers and what they can do to make their workplace safer. Locating the DangerIt is no rage that to xins can be prove in a medical setting. What does surprise experts is that there are not more than regulations and education on how to get over them. There is no question of the impact that these contaminates accept on medical personnel and their families. Environmental Working Group (EWG) conducted a brush up in 2007 to examine exposure and its effects regarding nurses. Fifteen hundred nurses were asked in a survey to list exposure to 11 common toxins put together in a medical setting and health problems seen in their children and themselves. The data is staggering.Organizations around the world have conducted their own investigations into workplace exposure and have found the same results. The conclusion is a global pandemic of cancer, miscarriages and ailment never before seen in any other workplace. Figure 1 (Environmental Working Group, 2007) An article by Carol Smith (2010) presents InvestigateWests examen into the regulations surrounding medication exposure regula tions and chronicles the impact they cause by following the illness of pharmacist execute Crump. Ms. Crump at the time of the interview was in the end stages of pancreatic cancer.Crump had fatigued 23 years working in the medical industry mixing chemo drugs. InvestigateWest found that no government agency has any regulations on exposure to drugs point those that OSHA has deemed as hazardous. OSHA defines hazardous drugs to wittingly cause cancer, birth defects and other illness. doubting Thomas Conner, a researcher for the National take for Occupational Safety and Health has spent four decades studying chemo medications on personnel. He emphasizes that, There is no other occupation population (that handles) so umpteen cognize human carcinogens (Lifesaving Drugs, Deadly Consequences, 2010, para. 1 ). strange the US, European countries have taken bill and placed stronger standards to protect its workers, and most have replaced most toxins with green chemicals. Two danish pas try studies have found a authoritative increased risk of leukemia among oncology nurses and physicians and extreme risks of quadruple cancers for medical workers (A Silent Threat, 2010, para. 10). Concerned over the growing number of studies NIOSH issued an alert on the dangers of handling toxic drugs however they are only recommendations and OSHA has no intent on making them regulatory.According to the Environmental Working Groups go over on Nurses (2007), starting with the Toxic midpoint Control Act in 1976, the EPA has not reviewed or even begun gathering safety data for more than eighty percentage of the chemicals produced or imported in one-year quantities exceeding ten thousand pounds (The brass is Broken, para. 4). This brings in to question the very nature of the agencies that have been put into place to protect its citizens. There seems to be no soak up cut standard for how these government agencies handle the data and respond to the people or each other.While each one understandably knows and verifies the existence of the dangers they do nothing about it. Common Toxins Anesthetic Gas anesthesia is commonly employ in dental consonant and surgical procedures. Gases escape can from facemasks, tubes and even regulating machines that were created to control exposure. Although NIOSH has recommended exposure limits for many gases used it is primarily to protect the worker during the procedure. These gases have been found to increase neurological issues, lowered fertility in men and women, miscarriage and higher rates of birth defects in children articulalry neurological complications. Medications According to EWG, the FDA has ratified close to six thousand medications. horizontal in trace amounts these medications can pose serious effects. No study has ever been conducted to examine the hazard of combining medications in humans. Some chemo drugs are capable of prejudicial DNA and are known cause certain types of rare cancer. Antiretroviral drugs used for human immunodeficiency virus treatment are even more dangerous to a developing fetus. gratuitous exposure to medication has been cerebrate to everything from skin rashes, asthma, cancer, infertility, and birth defects. latex and personal care products Latex is a common material used in gloves, catheters, and other plastics. Personal care items range from shampoo to shaving cream off used by patients. Both were linked to asthma and allergies, ranging from mild reactions to life threatening anaphylaxes. Medical professionals have already been found to have to leave the job because of the seriousness of their allergies. Mercury containing devices Mercury can take over be found in devices ranging from thermometers, credit line pressure cuffs to non-medical devices, much(prenominal) as batteries and thermostats.It is known to be extremely toxic to the humour and nervous system. Neurological disorders have been found to be higher in medical personnel than other occupatio ns. Children born to nurses undecided during pregnancy have higher degrees of developmental delays and central nervous system diseases. ray of light Radiation can be found in medications and used in life saving medical devices. Imaging machines, such as MRI and CAT scans, have been shown to emit radiation even when protections are in place. Radiation exposure has been be to cause an increased rate of miscarriage, cancer and birth defects. SterilizationEthylene oxide & Glutaraldehyde are chemicals used to make anything that cannot be sterilized by steam. Whether the exposure was from the liquid form or give through evaporation it has been linked allergies, anaemia and severe migraines. Recommendations Although many of these contaminates are needed, prompt action should be taken place to insure the health of everyone who works arise them. Rigorous standards for the handling of and the exposure to toxins updated and thoroughgoing(a) profiles for chemicals and their affects on health and the environment and investigations on health care personnel and their childrens lifespans.Education should be as fast paced as chemical production. Healthcare facilities should have mandatory guidelines for successor hazards with green alternatives when available and only extensively trained personnel allowed to handle them. Conclusions Since the foundation of control and regulation of toxins and chemicals the government has illegalise production of only one chemical, and set very few exposure standards for personnel that are exposed to them. Its apparent in the data that whats being do currently is not working.No other workforce has been asked not only to risk their lives but the lives of their children as well. Bringing to mind the event of 9/11, when the nation espouseed as military, medical personnel, police, FEMA, and firemen ran to act. Only this time no one seems to be watching. Families of medical workers, like Sue Crumb, have been left to wonder why nothin g has been done. It has been reported that the nursing deficit is over but is expected to reemerge again by 2020 as the largest employed mathematical group of nurses retire.If the healthcare industry continues to be a hazard to its staff one could only assume that the shortage give flex worse. No one can pass up that the current burden on the healthcare system is extreme. When our health care professionals find to get sick the burden will become greater. By stepping forward now, patient and health professional together, perhaps we can save generations of lives from needless loss. References Brody, J. M. (2007). Improving apocalypse and Consent Is It Safe? New ethics for Reporting Personal Exposures to Environmental chemical substances.American diary Of Public Health, 97(9), 1547. Cooney, C. M. (2003). CDC pegs human exposures to chemicals. Environmental scholarship & Technology, 37(9), 168A. Toxic Americans. (2003). Ecologist, 33(3), 7. Environmental Working Group. (2007 ). A Survey on Health and chemical Exposures. Retrieved from http//www. ewg. org/reports/nursesurvey US Government Accounting Office. (2005) Chemical Regulation Options Exist to Improve EPAs Ability to Assess Health take chances and Manage Its Chemical Review Program. PDF. Retrieved from http//www. noharm. rg/lib/downloads/chemicals/GAO_Chemical%20Regulation_Rpt. pdf unite States segment Of Labor. (2012). Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). Retrieved from http//www. osha. gov/ Centers for Disease Control. (2012). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Retrieved from http//www. cdc. gov/niosh/about. hypertext markup language Office of the joined Nations High Commissioner for valet Rights. (1976). International Covenant on Economic, societal and Cultural Rights (Part III, Article 6-7) Retrieved from http//www2. ohchr. rg/english/ truth/cescr. htm Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. (2012). tokenish Risk Levels (MELs) for H azardous Substances. Retrieved from http//www. atsdr. cdc. gov/mrls/mrllist. asp United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). (2009) virtually the GHS. Retrieved from http//www. unece. org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_welcome_e. hypertext markup language United States Department of Labor (2012) OSHA Hazard converse (GHS). Retrieved from http//www. osha. gov/dsg/hazcom/index. hypertext mark-up language Michaels, D. (2012, March 12) OHSA Revised Hazard Communication Standard. Video Retrieved from http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=uhxp-X6Eqts&context=C4afdff5ADvjVQa1PpcFOfmWo3rcGP16a3ScZVMdv1fYTB5eM1EqQ= US Food and Drug Association (Producer). (2008, January 17). Hazards from employ Cleaners on Medical Equipment. Video Retrieved from http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=_zE124CbUuM Smith, C. (2010, July 9). Lifesaving Drugs, Deadly Consequences. Retrieved from http//invw. org/chemo-main Smith, C. (2010, July 10). US Lags ass on Worker Safeguards. Retrieved from http//seattleti mes. nwsource. com/html/localnews/2012327672_chemoosha11. html